UK restrictions aimed at alcohol ads for teens

Stung by complaints that retailers continue to market alcohol to young people, British manufacturers have proposed an advertising crackdown. The Portman Group, whose member companies produce 95% of the alcoholic drinks sold in the UK, announced that it is revising its 6-year-old marketing standards code to cover branded merchandise and promotions.

Figure. Bottoms up Photo by: Canapress

Britain's legal drinking age is 18, and some watchdog organizations have detected a steady increase in alcohol consumption by underage drinkers during the last 50 years. A report by the Institute of Alcohol Studies said that alcohol played no significant part in youth culture until the 1960s, when pubs and bars started replacing coffee houses as the preferred gathering place. According to Department of Health statistics, a majority of young Britons drink regularly by age 14 or 15, and since 1990 the amount of alcohol they consume has doubled, to 10.4 units per week. Britain's Home Office says underage drinkers find it easy to buy alcohol, with 63% of 16- and 17-year-olds and 10% of those aged 12 to 15 who drink reporting that they have been able to purchase drinks in pubs. All the underage drinkers indicated that roughly half the time they drank alcohol either in their own homes or someone else's home, which suggested a measure of adult complicity.

The same survey showed that underage drinkers preferred beer over any other alcoholic beverage, followed by spirits and wine. While consumption of “alcopops” — sweetened alcoholic drinks — lagged behind other beverages, a Scottish study found that children and teens who drank these products were significantly more likely to report having been inebriated. — Mary Helen Spooner, West Sussex, UK